The Mermaid Ambassador
by attlantica
Summary: Luna felt a tug, and into the lake she finds a new quest. [For the QLFC. Kenmare Kestrels]


_Disclaimer: anything you recognize is not mine._

 _Word Count: 998_

 _For the Quidditch League Fanfiction Competition. T_ _eam: Kenmare Kestrels. Position: Chaser 1._

 _Genre: Fantasy_ _Prompts: Mermaid, topaz, 'To die would be an awfully big adventure' –J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan_

* * *

Luna walked down to the Black Lake with the intention of making a creature discovery. Her classmates had been bullying her again, but she was not degrading herself into a sniveling little girl. No, she had to be strong for herself.

Well, she told herself that. Luna wasn't very strong in any sense. Not that she cared - she often thought of herself like a china warrior doll.

So she walked on the shore of the Black Lake until she found her special spot, which was right under a tree. Luna put her wand behind her ear and settled down to read Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them again.

She breathed in the fresh breeze and the smell of the spring flowers, and for the first time that month, Luna felt at peace.

Having read the book before, she decided to skip the introduction and go to her favorite part, the creatures. Her favourites were the Crumple-Headed Snorkack and the Nargles, but they weren't in the book, so she just settled for the dragons.

Suddenly, she felt a tug on her shoe. It was strange. There wasn't anyone near except for the flowers, the lake and herself. She had no idea who had tugged her shoe, or if it had even been real.

Luna knew it was real because at one moment she was sitting on the fresh green grass -

And the next she was wet and couldn't breathe. She quickly grabbed her wand (which, thanks to Merlin, was still behind her ear) and cast the Bubblehead charm she had seen in the Triwizard tournament. She wasn't going to let herself drown, even if she thought that to die would be an awfully big adventure.

Looking around, she saw that everything was dark, so she also lit her wand to see around. The first thing she saw, much to her surprise, was something similar to a mermaid, but uglier than she imagined them to be.

The creature shoved something on hands, making her take it, only for it to be a seashell. Maybe it was a sort of welcome gift? Was she even allowed to be in the lake? Mermaids? It wasn't that it was odd, but that it wasn't what Luna had planned for the evening.

The mermaid (Luna clearly didn't know the sex, so she decided with female) tugged her arm and grabbed hold of her. Then she started swimming towards the far end, or what seemed the far end, of the lake. As they got closer and closer, Luna started to see a palace that shone like a topaz in the sunlight.

When Luna and the mermaid entered the palace, Luna was met with the gaze of hundred of thousands of merpeople. She had been under the gaze of people before, but this one definitely won over all of the others.

Now that she even thought about it, their gaze was not bad. They were curious, and Luna thought curiosity was endearing.

"Hello," she said with a wave, trying to communicate with the fantastic merpeople.

The mermaid that had escorted her to the palace bowed and swam away. Luna tilted her head. Maybe she'd done something wrong, she thought. She hadn't, however, because the merpeople made way for her over the throne, where laid a shockingly beautiful lady, or well, mermaid. Her hair was bright purple and adorned with a crown of sea stars and seashells, and she was dressed in a seaweed dress.

Luna, who had read lots of books about mermaids in her childhood, could be sure that the mermaid was certainly not an Irish one.

"Welcome, Luna Lovegood. Come before me," the pretty mermaid said. Luna was thrilled - mermaids recognized her! She quickly swam over to the apparent queen of the palace.

"Good morning, ma'am. I didn't know you lived here. I really like your hair too. What do you use to make it that shiny and purple?" Luna asked, curiosity taking the best of her. She blushed when the mermaid's brows shot upwards.

"No, no, Luna. Don't worry, sweetie. I wanted to talk to you peacefully. You see, I've got these, well, servants, following you around by the shore, and they reported back that you were there almost every day. That wasn't a surprise, actually; many people have sat upon the shore of my lake almost every day for more than a thousand years," the mermaid explained. Luna nodded.

"Recent matters have been discussed, and we decided that we needed a link between the wet and dry worlds, an ambassador, if you will. You seem the most reasonable answer. And we expect that you follow our rules if you agree with the terms."

Luna was so excited! She was finally taken seriously on something, and it was one hundred percent real. Luna agreed right away, not wanting to let the opportunity go.

"We shall treat you like royalty if you do my bidding up in the dry land. I'm completely happy with our arrangement. Now, Quinky, you can take her back," the mermaid ordered. Even if Luna didn't want to go, she had to follow the rules, and went with the merman named Quinky.

"Hello, Quinky," she greeted, but the merman only grunted. Luna's smile never faltered, she was just so happy.

She landed on the shore where she had been taken. Glancing around and noticing that nobody was there, she cast a quick drying charm on her clothes and hair, and then tucked her wand behind her ear.

Luna could wait to tell Ginny about her fantastic adventure! She was definitely not going to tell the rest of the Ravenclaws because they'd probably laugh even more, and not with her.

She should also tell Dumbledore!

Practically jumping from all of the excitement, Luna gathered all of her things and skipped until she reached the huge castle known as Hogwarts.

* * *

 **Author's Note:**

 _For the Famous Witches and Wizards Card Challenge. Genre: Adventure, prompts: royalty._

 **I had a hard time writing this. Luna is just so easy for me to write and I feel like I failed at it. I do hope you all like it, but if you don't, don't worry I understand. On another note, I was going to write a PeterPan!AU, but the word count didn't fit,** **so I'm going to write a multi-chap about that. If you're interested, just stalk my profile next week (:**

 **-Mandy**


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